With the world championships just around the corner, Tom Boonen's second Vueta
stage win came as a timely reminder that the Belgian is one of the favourites
to become the king of the road again.

With his second stage win in the Vuelta a España, Belgian Tom Boonen
showed he is ready to fight for the rainbow jersey in Varese, Italy. Boonen
ended a hot day in Zamora ahead of Filippo Pozzato (Liquigas) and Heinrich Haussler
(Gerolsteiner) to prove he's in good shape ahead of the world championships
in less than two weeks' time.

The 2005 world champion felt very comfortable with his form, having started
the race with an early
sprint win. Towards the end of a hard Vuelta, he is gaining more confidence
ahead of the world championships. "To start with victory on the third day
and then one day before
I go home shows that my condition has not decreased, but increased."

Boonen emphasised his good condition by saying he was very strong, even in
the mountains. Of course, he knew how to evaluate that. "If you are feeling
strong in the mountains, you still have to see how it goes in the sprint."

Obviously, the signs are good for Boonen. He could especially feel his zing
in the last two kilometres, when it really counts. "You know it's the third
week. This is when everybody is tired." Boonen knows that positioning is
everything and his Quick Step team, including the impressive Paolo Bettini,
led Boonen out perfectly.

The Belgian believes the sprints in the third week play out differently than
those in the first week. "The muscles are tired and everybody is waiting
for Madrid. If you can still win then it shows you have a clear head and strong
legs." Boonen explained that his injuries weren't bothering him anymore,
although his Vuelta had been far from ideal. His knee was still bothering him
a bit as he headed through mountains during the second week. "It was not
really the best way to recover. I crashed one day before the first rest day,
then we had the three mountain stages; the one in Andorra in really bad weather,"
he said.

As he began to recover, the second set of mountain stages awaited the peloton,
including the famous and extremely difficult Angliru. Arriving at the third
week, Boonen has control of the situation. "I am feeling OK now, even though
my muscles are still a bit tight. The bone underneath my knee cap was a little
bit crunched, but it's nothing too serious."

Kicking back - for a couple of days

For Boonen the most important factor is the general state of his body. "The
strength is there, so too the conditioning," he said. "Now I'll have
a few days to recover... then I will be fine." Indeed, recovery is vital
to Belgium's captain for worlds. In fact, the idea of a detailed workout programme
seemed to amuse him. "If you think about training now, it's too late!"
Boonen will hang around in Spain for one more stage, although he wasn't sure
if he could contest another sprint finish, saying, "I haven't even looked
at the profile yet."

Boonen's schedule calls for his return to Belgium for three days to recover.
Then he can start final preparations, which also include recovery. "I will
do two long rides - one of four hours, the other six and a half. Everything
is good now. Of course, if you don't do anything you will have really bad legs,
so one or two training rides and for the rest [of the programme] it's just recovery."

If all goes to plan for Boonen, he could prevent one rider from entering the
history books: Paolo Bettini. In preparation for his own assault on the world
title, the Italian did a pile of work for Boonen ahead of the Belgian's second
Vuelta stage win. Bettini is a likely candidate to become the first rider to
take out three consecutive world championships, and on September 28 the alliance
between the two riders will be on hold - for about six hours, at least.